As WFPL’s Erica Peterson reported, Huff Creek Mine had racked up nearly 200 violations over the past three years alone. Under current federal rules, the Harlan County mine didn’t meet enough standards to be put on a “pattern of violations” status.

The Grimes campaign said she spoke with Reid about the issue privately. Opponents still used it as an opportunity to again argue Grimes will be more beholden to President Obama’s agenda than the state’s coal industry.

“Alison Grimes just got caught in a big lie,” a narrator said in a June 17 TV ad by Kentucky Opportunity Coalition, a conservative PAC backing McConnell. “Before a Washington fundraiser with anti-coal Senate boss Harry Reid, Grimes insisted she’d fight for Kentucky coal.Turns out she lied, Grimes didn’t mention coal, not one word.”

Grimes reiterated she has condemned the Obama administration for “misguided” environmental policies, but she added protections for coal miners’ safety and health are just as important.

Grimes said McConnell’s vow to dismantle the health care overhaul would hurt the more than 1,000 Kentucky workers who have reported suffering from black lung disease, which comes from inhaling coal dust.

“Mitch McConnell has called for a full repeal of these pro-coal miner protections,” said Grimes. “While I have expressed my disagreement with some parts of the broader healthcare bill, which I will work to fix, I certainly support the Byrd amendments.”

“Perhaps someone should remind Alison that it was Sen. McConnell who co-sponsored and passed the MINER Act to ensure the health and safety of America’s coal miners, and that it is Sen. McConnell who fights every day to protect Kentucky’s miners from Grimes’ liberal allies who need her vote to completely destroy the coal industry,” Moore said in a statement.